Domino
by alchemy820
Summary: With Christmas just around the corner; the team are given a case. And Henry is upset; fearing that JJ will miss out on Christmas with him. If JJ knew what was going to happen on that case; and just how dark it would get, she would've listened to her son and she never would have stepped onto that Jet. (I deleted this story a while back, but I brought it back)
1. 1 All I Wanted

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the Characters. **

**Chapter One: 'All I Wanted' (JJ POV)**

_The mark was instant; from where his hand made contact with my cheek. _

_In a reflex; when his hand was gone, my own covered the mark and held in the sear from the pain. _

_The ache, was almost unbearable. Like my whole face had just been burnt, except there was no fire. No blaze. _

_Just my best friend, and his strong hands that were being forced to inflict pain upon me. _

'_I'm so sorry' his lips moved. The movement, so motionless, so still, that nobody else would have been able to tell that he was talking at all. _

_I couldn't speak back. Because no sooner had the sentence escaped from the confines of his lips, his hand immediately made contact with my cheek again. _

_The bruise flushing an immediate (indigo and crimson) painful colour. _

_And his other hand? Gripped tightly around my neck – not enough to choke me, but enough so that it seemed like he was. _

_We both knew what this all meant. _

_We knew, that if we fooled our tormentor; if we fooled him, and got him to think that Spence was actually, intentionally, hurting me - We would get out alive. _

_And that was all we wanted. _

_We just wanted to get out alive. _

**-4 Days Earlier-**

I tapped my toes impatiently under the round table; just waiting to see what our latest case would hold.

It was almost Christmas. And I knew that Henry wouldn't have wanted me to have to go away on a case. He and Will would have rathered me be home with them.

But, with working at the Bureau; I knew the chances of being at home with my boys were very slim.

I continued to tap my toes. And I watched as Penelope picked up the case remote and clicked the 'on' button; our conference room screen flashing with our newest case information.

We all passed our file folders around (I accepted mine hesitantly, of course) and we began to flip through the details, while Garcia explained to us everything that had happened.

'NYPD found these two bodies in an alley dumpster, cause of death is that both of them were bludgeoned and beaten. This is Jenna Johnston and Carl Freeman. Jenna is a child care worker, and Carl is a veterinarian'.

'What does a vet and a child care worker have in common?' Kate pointed out, 'There doesn't seem to be any connection between their careers'

'No, there's not' Penelope shrugged in agreement.

'And nobody reported either of them missing' Rossi added.

'That's true too'.

I flipped through the file, and I ended up asking the question, 'Were these the only victims?'.

Penelope clicked a few more buttons on the remote control, 'Two weeks ago, NYPD found the bodies of Sam Towne and Justin Corrigan also in an alley dumpster. According to the police reports, Sam was a prostitute and Justin was a druggie'.

Morgan nodded, 'And we didn't get called in then, because Sam and Justin were high-risk victims'.

'Sam was a runaway too' Hotch added, 'You can't get more high risk than that'.

'NYPD thinks it's turning into a serial, and that in the next two weeks, two other people are going to lose their lives'.

'Killer even left a domino behind at the scenes' Reid picked up a crime scene photograph and held it out for everybody to see, 'Four dots. Two on each side'.

'The UnSub has got some obsession with the number two' I chirped in.

_Two. My two boys. I just wanted to be home with my two boys. _

Spence nodded at me, but, he still seemed distant.

He always did that when he was thinking.

'Genius…' I lightly poked him in the shoulder, 'Do you think the domino means anything?'.

'I'm not sure. But, dominos are usually used in child's play, you know. The dominoes could have some meaning in that'.

Rossi nodded, 'Like how the UnSub could believe that his life is toppling over, like a domino effect'.

Meanwhile, Hotch started gathering his files; and then he turned to Rossi, Spence and myself.

'I'd like you three to work through the domino theory. Find out any resemblance to why the UnSub would leave a domino behind at the scene' he instructed us, and we all nodded in return.

'Wheels up in thirty?' Morgan raised an eyebrow and sniggered at his own humour. And almost, in unison, we all turned to look at the man. Had Derek really just said that?

It was Morgan's resolution for last New Year's Eve; kind of a gag really. He wanted to annoy us all as much as possible.

(Actually, just last fortnight – he mocked Spence really well. We were doing our files, and Derek whipped out this thick paperback novel, and started just flipping through the pages without even reading them).

And considering we only had a month until the next New Year; my guess was that Derek wanted to continue his making-fun-of-us gag while he still could. Poor Hotch.

Hotch just pulled out his 'glare-face'. He wasn't actually mad, of course, but, it did look really realistic.

'Morgan' he stated, firmly.

'Yeah?' Derek licked his lip, trying to keep in his laughter.

'Don't steal my line again'.

We all rolled our eyes, and had a bit of a laugh about it. Especially, when Hotch announced to the group, not less than thirty seconds later, that we WERE going to be 'wheeling up' in thirty minutes.

I shared a secret smile with myself. I always loved the moments where we'd find some fun in the horribleness of the work that we did. It was only way to get through the darkness, really.

That, and family.

_Family. _

'Okay, enough' Rossi composed us, 'We've got a case to work, remember'.

'Right, sorry' Morgan admitted his fault for the disturbance.

'Wheels up in thirty, okay. Flight's really quick to New York'.

And after that, we all scattered in our different directions.

I headed towards my office, and my desk. Despite not being the main liaison anymore (I've been a SSA profiler since 2011); I still kept my office.

I bit my lip as I pulled my phone out from my pocket and dialled home. I knew Will and Henry weren't going to like what was to come.

'Momma' Henry answered the call in his usual excitement.

'Hey, sweetie' I told him, 'Look, Mommy's sorry, but I won't be home for a few days. We've got a case'.

Immediately I felt terrible. I could feel Henry's excitement melting away.

'Daddy and me wanted to do Christmas things with you' he saddened, 'We were going to set up the big tree tonight. Daddy said that we shouldn't wait till the night before'.

'I'll be home for Christmas, Henry' I told him, 'It's still a while away'.

'You won't be home tonight and some of your work lasts for ages. You might miss out on everything'.

'I won't miss out. Honey, but, Mom still has to work, okay? But, I'll only be gone a few days'.

'But, I'll be all by myself'

'You've got Dad with you' I reminded him.

'But, I don't have you. And Uncle Spence and Auntie Penelope and everybody else will be at work with you'.

'That's a bit selfish, Henry. You're not on your own'.

'I don't care. I want to spend night with you'.

'I've still got to go to work, Henry, I'm really sorry' I bit my lip, my eyes were beginning to water. I hated breaking my little man's heart.

'But, you should've promised that you be here!' he practically screamed at me.

'No, I didn't promise anything, Henry. You know Mom has to work'.

'You should've promised' he spat again, with a emphasis on the word 'should've'.

And then he actually hung up on me. Like full-on, hung up.

Man, I wish Will never taught him what the 'end call' button was.

I sighed.

And then I dialled the number again. The call rang out and I ended up with the answering machine.

Typical. I knew he wouldn't pick up the phone if he was upset.

'_I'm sorry Henry' _I recorded, _'I know you wanted me to be home. But, I'll try to be really quick. Okay? I love you and Daddy, just remember that. I'll see you soon, honey. And I promise that I will be home for Christmas'. _

And then the call ended.

I had no choice, but to get ready for the case and forget about the phone call; but, the whole time I was preparing myself to head to New York; my heart was just in my throat.

A few minutes went by, and Spence popped into my office, just to check on me.

'Morgan and Rossi are heading to the plane. I wanted to see if you were ready yet' he shrugged.

'Not yet' I admitted, grabbing my go-bag from underneath my desk.

'Have you talked to Henry and Will yet?'.

'Henry wants me to be home. He thinks that I'll miss Christmas if I'm away' I sighed again.

'You should try to call him later'.

I nodded, 'I will, definitely'.

I placed my bag on my shoulder, and I was finished getting ready.

Or, as ready as I could get. (My heart was still in my throat and my tongue was dry in my mouth).

Spence wrapped one of his arms around my shoulders and he led me out the door, and together, we headed to the plane.

But, the whole time we were walking to the jet, my thoughts were just all frayed.

I so wasn't ready for this case.

But, I didn't know what to feel worse for; the fact that Henry was upset with me. Or the fact that I didn't know just how dark the case would get.

If I knew what I would be experiencing in a few days time; I never would've hopped on the plane.

**Thanks for reading! Please Rate and Review. **


	2. 2 Got A Christmas Tree But No Mommy

**Special Thanks to: ''DVdE91'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''Jareau37'' and to ''giderasia'' for all of your follows, reviews and favourites. I really appreciate them. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of it's characters. **

**Chapter Two: ''Got a Christmas Tree but No Mommy''**

After hanging up the phone, Henry had been moping. He was lying on the sofa in the living room, on his stomach, his hands folded beneath his chin.

Meanwhile, Will was fixing some artificial tree branches into the artificial plastic, chocolate coloured, Christmas tree stand.

Henry was watching him do just so from his position on the sofa.

'Should've gotten a real tree' the boy lectured his father, glumly.

'Real trees just make a mess, little cher' Will replied, 'It is much easier to do it this way'.

'But it's not a real tree. Other people have real trees'.

Will reached into a cardboard box full of Christmas ornaments and he tossed one to Henry.

The boy caught the item, and examined it.

'Can I eat it?' he referred to the candy cane in his hands.

'Do you want to help decorate?' Will shot back, teasingly.

'Nup'

'Then, there's your answer'. Will kneeled down beside the couch, beside Henry, and took the candy cane back off him.

The confectionary was then hung on the fourth branch of the Christmas tree. 'How's it look if I put it here?'

'Don't know' Henry shrugged again, glumly, not really taking interest in the question.

Will shuffled over to the couch, sitting beside the little boy, and Henry ended up crawling into his lap.

'Why such a long face today, buddy?' Will wiped a couple of strands of Henry's hair out of his eyes.

'Christmas is so different this year' Henry snuggled into his Dad's shoulder.

'What do ya mean, buddy?'

'We don't have a real tree. Mommy's not here…' Henry began to count on his fingers.

'Have you talked to Mom?' was Will's next question.

'Before' Henry admitted, 'She said she has to work'.

'So, what's wrong with that?'

'She should be with us. She might miss Christmas if she's away'.

Will stroked the boy's hair again, 'Cher, she'd never miss Christmas. She'll come home'.

'I don't like Christmas without Mommy' Henry sniffled, his eyes beginning to sob with water, 'I don't like the tree because Mommy's not here'.

'She'll be home, Henry' Will assured him, 'She'll be home as soon as she can'.

But the boy didn't seem to believe it. He wiggled out of his father's grasp, and headed out of the room. 'Going to my room' he announced, stomping his feet childishly as he went.

Will watched him go – the scene almost heartbreaking. He'd never seen Henry act in this type of rebellion before.

Perhaps he was jus at an age where he wanted his mother?

Will didn't know what to do.

So, he figured the best thing he could do was let Henry be.

He turned his attention back to the Christmas tree. Circling rainbow lights around the different branches, and hanging wreaths and Santa Claus shaped ornaments.

And after the tree actually looked pretty decent (good enough, anyway), Will went to go check on Henry. Who was scribbling in his colouring book.

'How are you going now, cher?'.

Henry ignored the question, grabbed his yellow crayon and started colouring in a picture of the sun.

'A bright happy sun, bud?' Will gazed at the six year old's handiwork.

'Don't like to stay in the line' Henry shrugged, continuing to scribble. And he scribbled over the sun's happy face; replacing it with an unhappy expression.

Will sighed, and despite Henry's sudden protests, he picked up the boy and cradled him in his arms.

'Can you put me down?' he squirmed, 'Put me down!'

'No' Will told him, 'I want to talk to you'.

After some resistance, Henry accepted, and Will placed him back down on the ground.

They both sat on the boy's bed, together.

'Are I in rubble?' Henry asked.

'Trouble? No, you're not in trouble'.

Henry nodded.

And Will grabbed his hand, softly squeezing it.

'Cher, what's going on with you today? You're not yourself'.

'I miss Mommy' Henry admitted, in a gloomed tone of voice.

'You're allowed to miss Mommy. She's working, but she'll be missing you too' Will told him.

The boy added, 'And I miss her not being around a lot. She does too much work'.

'But, she's helping people, buddy. Her job is to help people'.

Henry sniffled, 'I know that! I just want Mommy to be here. She needs to help set up the Christmas tree'.

'I've already finished that, bud. You don't need to worry about the tree'.

And Henry's mouth started gaping like a goldfish. 'You finished the tree! I wanted to help!'.

Will squeezed the boys hand again, and he led him out of the bedroom and back to the living area, 'You can still help'.

When Henry saw the tree, he almost started crying. The tree was full of baubles, and tinsel, and ornaments, and he didn't get to hang anything on it; which he thought was unfair.

But, then he noticed that the very top of the tree was empty. Bare, with nothing on it.

Will grabbed the last two ornaments from the cardboard decorations box, and he held them out to the little boy.

'Star or Angel?' he inquired.

'Both' Henry smiled, delighted. He politely grabbed the two decorations from his father's hand, and then he positioned the angel to sit on top of the star.

Surprisingly, it fit. (Will wondered why they'd never tried to combine the two tree-toppers before).

'Lift me up, peez' Henry held out his arms, and Will nodded. He lifted up the boy, and Henry placed the two tree-toppers, in the empty space on the tree; where they belonged.

'Done' Henry smiled, chirping.

'Are you okay now, bud?' Will asked him, giving him another cuddle.

'Bit better now' Henry nodded.

And Will carried him back to the kitchen, placing him on top of the kitchen bench so he could sit.

'Hungry?' Will asked, opening up the pantry door, 'What would you like to eat?'.

'Juicebox' Henry pointed to one of the pantry shelves, with a grin on his face. And Will passed him a orange flavoured one.

While Henry sucked on the straw of his juice, Will pressed a button on the home-phone's answering machine; noticing that a red light was blinking on the device.

_You have one new voice message. _

_Message from 'Jennifer' _

'_I'm sorry Henry. I know you wanted me to be home. But, I'll try to be really quick. Okay? I love you and Daddy, just remember that. I'll see you soon, honey'. _

'See, bud?' Will gestured, 'Mommy will be home as soon as possible'.

'Do you think she'll be home for Christmas?' Henry asked with a few drops of orange juice dripping down his chin.

'I think she will be, buddy. She doesn't want to miss it'.

'Good' Henry continued to sip his drink, 'I'm all better now'.

'That's good to hear, bud'.

Will sighed, and grabbed a nearby tissue; wiping Henry's face so that it was free from juice.

'Tankyou, Daddy' the boy giggled.

'You're welcome, my little cher' Will brushed some more of Henry's hair out of his eyes.

'Tankyou, Daddy' he said again.

And Henry stayed in Will's arms, pretty much for the rest of the day.

They ended up snuggled together on the sofa watching a movie.

'We've got a Christmas tree, but no Mommy' Henry commented, while he and Will were enjoying the leisure-time in the living area. (The movie still rolling, softly).

'But, Mommy will be home soon. As soon as her work's over' Will reminded him.

But, the truth was; he shouldn't have said these words to Henry.

He couldn't actually contradict how long JJ would be gone for.

Let alone, that she'd actually come home safe and in one piece.

**Feel free to let me know anything you wish to happen next in the story. I might suffer writer's block in the near future and I'd love to hear your ideas.**** Please Rate and Review too. And thanks for reading!**


	3. 3 Focus

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait on this – I haven't had the internet for a while. But to make it up to you, I'm giving you this new updating chapter for **_**Domino. **_**Enjoy! **

**Special Thanks to: ''AWChic'', ''IwKa'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''scumpyca'', ''AKupras'', ''CMCrazies'', ''DVdE91'', ''Luuw5683'', ''MarnieWest'', ''ddzzoonn'', and to ''giderasia'' for all your follows, reviews, and favourites. I really appreciate them – they mean a lot to me! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, CBS, or any of the characters. **

**Chapter Three: ''Focus'' (JJ POV) **

The second that we reached the plane, I excused myself and headed off to the restroom.

Despite Spence's worried gaze, and Rossi and Morgan's inquiries if I was alright; I just continued on my way, slamming the cubicle door behind me.

With honesty, I couldn't have locked that door any faster.

I turned and almost collapsed over the sink, my head in my hands. And I had to splash, what felt like a litre, of water over my face to wake myself up.

The watery brows, the drops of water dripping down my sweated cheeks, and my tangled strands of hair in the reflection of the mirror; all added up to make me look like a mess.

And there was nothing I could really do about it.

'Your head needs to be in this' I muttered to myself through my teeth. But, just hearing myself say those words, and even though I knew it was the truth; it almost broke me apart even more.

Why would I want to focus, when I didn't even want to be here?

I knew Hotch wouldn't have wanted me staying and working the case, especially if I wasn't focused enough to do just so. He didn't like it when we weren't focused.

But, what would I say? What would be my excuse?

That my boys would've wanted me home? That I wanted to be home?

It wouldn't have been fair, considering, Hotch was in the same boat as me.

He was away from Jack and the rest of his family. Me going home to be with mine just didn't seem good enough.

He'd probably let me go if I asked. But, I'd spend the rest of the week feeling guilty about it, and it just wasn't fair that way.

I sighed at the situation, wiped my brow, and I dried my hands with a piece of paper towel.

With another sigh; a reassuring one – just to let my conscience know that I just had to 'suck it up' and that there was nothing I could do about it – I reached for the door handle and unlocked it.

Then, I stepped out to join the rest of the team. Who were all patiently waiting for me, reading their files.

'Are you okay?' Spence questioned me, after I'd taken the empty seat beside him.

I nodded and shrugged, 'Yeah, I'm fine'.

'Good' he smiled, and he passed me a file.

I half-smiled back and accepted the pieces of paper. I sighed again, but thankfully, I don't think anybody noticed the emotive.

If they did, they didn't say anything to me about it.

And then, Hotch began to deliver his directions, like he always did.

'When we get to New York, I want to get set up at the station. Kate, come with me?'

'Of course' she nodded.

'And I want Rossi and Reid, you two, can go check out the dump site where the recent victims were found. And you can ponder your 'domino theories''.

'Deal' they both nodded.

And then Hotch turned to me, 'JJ, can you go with Morgan to the place where the first victims were found? Sam and Justin?'

'Sure' I shrugged. Because, really, what choice did I have?

Derek nodded too.

'And we'll all meet up with the PD when we're all done'.

While the others all nodded again, I didn't even look up. I just flipped through the files.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, so I quickly whipped it out and examined the screen.

**1 New Message : Spencer Reid **

Swiping the screen, I unlocked my phone and read the message.

_Are you still worried about Henry? Have you called him back yet? I've just never seen you like this. _

So, I quickly typed back, '_Like what?' _

From beside me, I saw Reid pull his own phone out of his pocket and he read my reply.

Not wanting to actually type a text back, he just nudged himself closer; his shoulder touching mine. 'You just seem a bit upset and flustered. I'm kind of worried about you' he whispered in my ear.

'I'm okay. I'm fine' I whispered back.

Thankfully, he let it all slide; but I don't think he was convinced – he just continued to look worried.

I probably didn't help the situation. Because, after I flipped to the next page in my files; my eyes began to fill with tears. And I actually had to bite my lip to hold the tears back.

'Sam Towne was a mother' Kate read from her own papers, 'She had a three year old boy named Zackary. He's since been placed in the foster system'.

Then there was a loud beeping noise and Penelope interrupted through her cam in her office.

'Oh, see, Katie-Crime-Fighter,' she teased Callahan, 'luckily for the little lad, a woman is hoping to adopt Zackary and give him a good home. You don't need to worry about him'.

'Good to hear' Kate nodded, 'but, still, it just breaks my heart to see a child lose one of their parents. Three is too young an age to lose somebody'.

'Sam was a single parent too' Morgan added, sorrowfully. 'Three's too young an age to lose the only person you had'.

If I'm honest, Kate's words really stuck.

I couldn't help but wonder what would happen; if Henry lost me? At least he had Will, but, still.

What would happen if I wasn't here?

I started shaking my head furiously at myself – why was my brain doing this to me? Why was I thinking about something so horrible? So unimaginable?

I instantly got a migraine, and without knowing it – I rested my forehead on the palm of my hand.

'Are you okay?' Reid noticed, whispering again.

'I just can't seem to focus today' I admitted, 'Talking about kids and little boys who've lost their parents really doesn't help either'.

'Sorry JJ' Morgan apologized. Figure he must have overheard.

'It's okay' I sighed and I stood up to go get a drink of water from the Jet kitchen. Snapping a headache pill along with it, I sipped my drink.

While the others started talking about the case, Hotch walked over to me and started fixing himself a cup of coffee.

'If you're unwell, JJ, you shouldn't be working' he told me kindly.

I sipped some more of my water, 'Just a little headache, it'll go away'.

'Still, let me know if you're not feeling 100%. I need your focus' he walked back to his seat, while I nodded and watched him go.

I fiddled with a ring on my finger; the one with Henry's birthstone on it.

For some reason, I'd never felt so far away from Henry before. And usually when I just fiddled with his birthstone I felt closer to him; but, today, I felt nothing.

'Something's not right' I muttered to myself.

And then I noticed Spence staring at me again. Lip-reading is one of his many talents. He probably knew what I said.

So, I straightened my shoulders, threw my empty paper cup into the waste bin, and I walked back to my seat.

Before Reid could even say anything, I cut in first.

'Don't worry, I'm fine' I told him.

He must've believed me that time, because he didn't say anything else after that. He started flipping through his files again and started talking to Rossi about the numerous theories about 'domino significance' which he had.

I knew that Hotch wanted me working on the dominos with both of them; but, Rossi and Reid were better at imagery and item meaning than I ever was. I was more than happy for them to take the reins on our work.

Besides, the busier they were; the more I could focus on myself.

Like why I was having such a bad feeling about this case, even though it had literally only just begun.

Seeking some comfort, I excused myself again (not that anybody was really paying attention to me anyway) and I dialled my home number.

But, nobody picked up, so I left another message.

_Call me when you two boys get the chance, please. I love you both. _

And then I dialled Will, but I got his message bank too.

Sometimes when he was home with Henry, he'd turn off his cell. Or maybe they'd both fallen asleep on the couch again.

I mean, I love my boys, but they are such heavy sleepers – it sometimes drives me insane.

Giving up, I slammed my phone back into my pocket, and I headed back over to my seat.

I started reading through the file again, and with Henry on my mind; a theory popped into my head.

Maybe the UnSub was choosing his victims because of children? I mean, thinking about it clearly; Jenna Johnston was a child care worker. Sam Towne was a mother.

It could've had something to do with that. Maybe.

'Garcia, is there anything that connects the victims?' Hotch asked, almost coming to the same conclusion as me.

'Nothing so far, boss' she answered between her tapping computer keys.

'Hopefully the crime scenes give us more'.

But, little did we know that there was about to be a crime scene, this one different to all the rest.

**-Meanwhile, at the same time, in New York City- **

She had her back pressed up against the wall.

She was wedged. Wedged between the wall, and him.

'You don't need to do this. I didn't forget'.

But there was no point in begging.

He wasn't going to take it easy on her.

His fist collided with her cheek. And then her other cheek. Then her nose. Then her chin. Then her lip. And pretty much everywhere else, until she was bleeding so much, she looked like a bottle of tomato ketchup.

Then after he was finished all of his um… handiwork… he threw the tiny little domino piece down after her. And it landed right beside her dead corpse.

Exactly where he wanted it to be.

**Please rate and review! And thanks for reading. **


	4. 4 One Day At A Time

**Author's Note: Considering this BAU case is set in New York; I'm dedicating this particular chapter to the NYPD officers who've lost their lives in the shooting recently. Rest In Peace. **

**Special Thanks to: ''scumpyca'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''IwKa'', ''AWchic'', ''AKupras'', ''CMCrazies'', ''Criminal Minds BAUty'', ''DVdE91'', ''Luuw5683'', ''MarnieWest'', ''cmfanbex'', ''giderasia'' and to ''ddzzoonn'' for all of your follows, favourites, and reviews. **

**And I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. **

**Chapter Four: ''One Day at A Time'' (JJ POV) **

'Thankyou' I smiled as Derek lifted up the crime scene tape for me and politely let me through. Then he pulled the tape back down behind him and followed.

'So' he smirked as we walked along. But, then he became serious, 'What's gotten you so worked up today? Is this about what Kate and I were talking about on the plane?'

'Partly. But, it's not your fault' I shrugged, 'I had a fight with Henry just before I came here. He didn't want me to go on this case, he wanted me home'.

'Christmas time is hard for any kid, let alone a six year old who has two parents working for law enforcement. But, he'll be okay'.

'I can see where he's coming from though' I sighed, 'I mean I used to bake cookies with him for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Will's not a great cook, so Henry prefers baking with me. But, just things like that, you know? I think Henry feels like he'll miss out'.

'He knows that you and Will love him though, and he knows that you both try your best'.

I sighed again.

'Morgan?' I stopped him and we both froze in our tracks on the pavement.

'Yeah?'

'Do you ever wish that things were different?'

He was confused, 'What do you mean?'

'Like' I tried to find my words and think of an example, 'Like, if you had a different job. Or a different relationship. Or different family'.

'You saying that you want to trade Will and Henry?' he teased me with another smirk.

'No' I slapped him on the shoulder, 'No. But, like, sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I wasn't working for the Bureau. What if I was just a professional soccer player or something?'.

He raised an eyebrow, 'Then, chances are, that you wouldn't be married to Will and you wouldn't have Henry'.

'Okay, that was a bad expression' I apologized, 'Okay, so what if Henry had a brother? Or a sister? Chances are, that he wouldn't be feeling so alone this Christmas'.

I looked back up at my fellow agent, and Morgan placed one of his hands on my shoulder; in support.

We started walking along the path again towards the crime scene.

'The sooner we solve this case, the sooner that you'll be home' Derek told me.

'So, what's going to happen next Christmas? The same thing?' I protested, 'Or what if I'm away on New Year's Eve? Henry and Will like watching the fireworks. And Easter? Henry loves it when he and I choose chocolates'

'JJ' he stopped me, 'You're worrying about times that don't matter right now. You just need to take one day at a time. Live through today first'. 'That's what my Mom used to tell my sisters and me' he explained with a grin, 'To live through today first and then worry about the other days. More often than none, you'll find that the others things aren't as bad as you thought they were'.

And his words, those words, actually brought me the comfort that I'd been seeking. I felt better.

I needed that; the reassurance that at the end of the day, maybe, I was worrying too much.

'Thanks' I smiled gratefully.

'You're welcome' and he took his hand off my shoulder. 'I promise that I'll do whatever I can to get you home, okay?' he swore.

'Thanks' I said again, 'And thanks for the pep-talk. I needed something like that'.

'Just being your friend' he shrugged, and we continued our walk towards the centre of the alleyway; further and further from the busy city kerbside.

And after that, we found ourselves meeting up with another police officer.

'Officer Jonathon Martens' the man introduced himself with a flash of his badge, 'NYPD. The other officers call me 'Marty''.

'Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau' Morgan took the lead with the introductions, 'FBI. We're with the BAU'.

'Glad you could be here' Marty nodded, 'So, this is the dumpster where Justin Corrigan and Sam Towne were found'.

We were led over to the large metal bin and Marty gestured to the different corners of the container, 'Justin was here, and Sam was over here; lying this way'

'No witnesses?' Morgan questioned, looking around.

'Nope. Nobody saw anything'.

'And you were first call on scene, I assume?' I questioned.

'I wasn't the first; I was, I think, the third agent to report to the scene' Marty explained, 'But, see, I have a daughter who's a similar age to Sam Towne's son. So, as soon as I heard about the victims; I just didn't want this case to turn cold'.

'So, do you have a theory about what happened?' was Morgan's next question.

Marty scratched his head, 'Bodies are still at the M-E. They're just comparing reports to the most recent victims. Cause of death is apparently blood-loss. All the victims were badly beaten. The domino was found over there. Planted, after the bodies were dumped'.

Morgan and I followed his gaze over to a place in the alley floor, marked with a plastic yellow triangle.

'The domino has been analysed for fingerprints. No-go' Marty continued, 'It's currently at the station. We've no idea what it means. We were hoping you behavioural analysts could get to the bottom of everything'.

'Happy to help. That's why we were called' I shrugged with modest.

Derek and I started exploring, with Marty patiently watching and pointing out some details to us, which we might've missed otherwise.

The scene showed that the UnSub didn't have any remorse. We wondered if that was just because of the social statuses of Sam and Justin. But, we imagined that Jenna and Carl weren't treated with much respect either.

And after we were done with the alley, we headed back to the PD with Marty.

A couple of the officers were hanging up some Christmas banners from the ceiling of the main entrance; but Marty led us straight past the commotion and into one of the back conference rooms where we were being set up for the case.

'New complex?' Morgan asked the back of Marty's blonde head while we worked our way through the building to our room.

'Spruced this part of the building up a bit' he shrugged in response. And that was really all we spoke of the space.

We reached our set and Marty reacquainted us with our team members: Reid and Rossi were fiddling with the dominos on a table. Kate and Hotch must've gone to the medical examiner because they were pinning up some pieces of information onto a board.

And we met some other officers who were working the case with us too.

Rossi passed Morgan and I cups of freshly brewed coffee, and we started sharing our informs of the case with each other.

One of the lead officers interrupted us; 'We'll come back, Agent Hotchner, when you're ready to brief us the profile. We'll give you time to put everything together'.

'Thankyou, we appreciate it' Hotch nodded. And the officers left.

'So' Kate began. She sat down at the same table Spence and Rossi were working at, and the rest of us followed; crowding around.

'Kate and I went to the M-E' Hotch explained, 'And, as most of you know already, there's no real similarity between the victims. The UnSub kills a female and a male at the same time. And so far we haven't found a stressor. But the cause of death of all four victims is blood loss which they endured through tortured beatings'.

Rossi continued, 'The UnSub seems to be killing in a time span of two weeks, but, it's possible that this might turn into a spree and he might kill again before then'.

'So, what's that leave?' Morgan piped in.

'Rossi and I went to the scene where Jenna Johnston and Carl Freeman were found' Reid took over, 'There were no witnesses, and there was no DNA or evidence left at the scene. The domino was analysed, but there was nothing on that either'.

'So' Derek sighed, his question answered, 'We're not left with much'.

'Until he kills again. But, that just means that we're going to have more victims'.

I heard a shuffle behind me, so I turned around to see who was there.

'What's up, Marty?'

'Sorry for interrupting' Marty apologized, particularly to Hotch and Rossi, 'But, there's been another victim'.

'He didn't wait for the two weeks' Kate exclaimed, 'Are you seriously saying that there are two more victims already?'

'There was only one victim' Marty explained, 'But we know it's him. The domino was still left behind as a signature'.

'Is the cause of death still the same?' I questioned.

'She was beaten' Marty paused and bit his lip.

'…And?...'

I was pressing the issue because I just couldn't relate to Morgan's advice anymore; not now.

So much for taking one day at a time.

Now we had another victim. And more work to do.

And everything just seemed to get harder, the longer the day went by.

**Feel free to review, and thanks for reading! I really appreciate it. **


	5. 5 Phonecalls

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. **

**Special Thanks to: ''AKupras'', ''AWChic'', ''IwKa'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''lexjl'', ''scumpyca'', ''CMCrazies'', ''CMLeoLover'', ''Criminal Minds BAUty'', ''DVdE91'', ''Luuw5683'', ''MarnieWest'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''cmfanbex'', ''ddzzoonn'', ''giderasia'', and ''i-Linda'' for all of your follows and favourites. I really appreciate them. **

**And another special thanks to ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''Jareau37'', ''JuliaBC'', ''AWChic'', ''CMCrazies'', ''scumpyca'', ''lexjl'', and ''RatherBeAWriter'' for all of your reviews. Thankyou. **

**I hope you continue to enjoy the story. It's far from over. **

**Chapter Five: ''Phonecalls''**

Kate, Reid and Morgan were the ones who were sent (by Hotch) to the crime scene. Marty and another officer accompanied them.

The body of the poor woman was surrounded by the crime scene investigators, as well as the media. Flashing cameras were going off like lightning, and a couple of reporters had their networks backing them up to write the story.

'Get the media out of here, and push the barricades a couple of more metres back. We need space' Marty instructed the other accompanying officer, who immediately went off to do his job.

Then the cop led the three BAU team members towards the scene.

'Her name's Lola Stephens' Marty read aloud from a file he'd been given, 'She's 26; used to work as a bartender at a nightclub a couple of blocks away. She was fired three weeks ago for an inappropriate relationship with the club's bouncer after they got caught together in a fraternizing position'.

'Wonderful' Kate scoffed. 'Don't they realise that public relations just get you into trouble?'.

'Speaking from experience there, Callahan?' Morgan teased her, 'Something you want to share?'.

'Oh, so the 'womanizer' over here wants to judge me?' she gestured with a shot-back.

Derek playfully punched her in the shoulder, teasingly.

'Yes, that's exactly what I want to do – so, tell me!' he chuckled.

'Nup, you'll never know' and after another playful punch and a big laugh about it, the issue was dropped.

There was work to do; actual work. They had to focus.

Marty led them under a row of crime scene tape and into the middle of the scene.

'I'll let you guys do your thing' he told the agents, passing Reid his police case file, 'Just let me know when you're done, I'll be over there'. He pointed to a group of other police officers who were working just a few metres away.

'Thanks, Marty' Kate waved him a goodbye, and she read Reid's file over his shoulder; while Morgan excused himself past the Crime Scene Investigators so that he could examine the body.

'Cause of death is blood-loss' he exclaimed aloud to the others who followed him, 'I'm counting the wounds, and I'll say that there's approximately 20 blows on her'.

Reid passed his file to Kate who wanted to read through it properly with glance; so she remained standing, and Reid joined Morgan kneeling on the ground.

'27' the genius corrected, counting for himself.

'Seriously? No wonder.' Kate began to read aloud from the file, 'She was thrown from the sixth floor balcony from that building right there. That's her apartment where she lives'.

The two boys followed her gaze, to the building beside them; two CSI workers were dusting for fingerprints on the sixth floor metal railing.

'He never leaves any fingerprints' Morgan noted, 'I highly doubt that they'll find any fingerprints up there'.

'But, this M-O is different to the others' Kate pointed out, 'He's never thrown the body from a building before'.

Reid nodded, 'He usually just stuffs them in an alley dumpster. Maybe he made a mistake and actually left a fingerprint'.

Morgan stared at all of the blood on the pavement and cringed. 'There's no remorse. Usually people who don't have any remorse, take the time to make sure that nothing's left behind on scene'.

'So, what can we do?' Kate asked, 'How do we even begin to put a profile together? The crime scenes which we've been at have all been different' then she started to list her points; 'First scene was Sam and Justin, a prostitute and a druggie. Second was Jenna and Carl, a child care worker and a vet. Now, there's Lola'.

'Do you think there's another male victim?' Reid piped, 'You know, the UnSub usually kills one female and one male at the same time and dumps them both'.

'Well, Lola seems to be the 'special one'. Perhaps she was the one who the UnSub wanted to kill all along'.

The conversation was interrupted when the coroner van pulled up on the curb. Two workers exited.

'Sorry for interrupting, but, may we take the body to the medical examiner?' one of the workers asked.

'Be our guest' Morgan told them, 'We can finishing examining the body after the M-E report'.

So, the coroners got to work, and the team members gave them space.

'So, if Lola was the person the UnSub wanted to kill all along, do you think it's over?' Reid asked Kate, continuing from her last statement.

'I don't know' she answered honestly, 'Who would want to kill her?'.

'We should get Penelope on it' Morgan was about to say, until a tune of music echoed around the scene.

_Her name was Lola. She was a showgirl. With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there. _

'Copacabana' Kate noted.

The music was coming from Lola's cell phone. Incoming phone call.

'Appropriate ring tone, don't you think?' Reid added.

Morgan went over towards the uncertain coroner holding the mobile and asked 'Who's the caller?'.

'The caller is somebody called 'Don't Answer'' he read aloud, 'Want to take it?'.

But the music suddenly stopped halfway through the call and disconnected.

Kate and Reid walked over to where Morgan and the coroners were. 'Telemarketer?' Kate guessed.

'I don't know, we'll get Garcia on it' Derek politely accepted the phone from the coroner who continued to do his job.

And Morgan stood to the side with his friends again and dialled Penelope.

'Speaking chocolate-thunder, what can I do you for?'.

'Baby girl, we're going to send you the latest victim's mobile phone. She received a call from someone called 'Don't Answer' and we want to know who that is'.

'If you give me the SIM card number, I can work with the phone from wherever you are' Penelope told the group.

Derek pulled the casing off the mobile, and handed Reid the little metallic device card.

'Seriously, give me something harder to do' Garcia playfully scolded after the ID was read out, 'I'm tracing the number now, and the caller is somebody named…Justin Corrigan'.

'Justin was one of the first victims' Kate nodded, 'That doesn't really make sense. Justin's dead'.

'Well, he's dead, but his phone might not be' Morgan pointed out, 'Whoever has his phone is probably still able to dial a number for somebody'.

'Garcia?' Reid asked her, 'Can you track the location of the phone?'.

'Seriously, boy-wonder, do you think I can't?' she teased and continued to type on her computer, 'The call came from a building that seems to be called 'Syntree Apartments' on 46th street'.

'But, that's Lola's building' Kate exclaimed reading the gold letters that bordered the entrance, 'The building right there'. She pointed to the sixth floor balcony where the CSI workers were collecting their prints.

'He called from there' Morgan gasped, and quickly thanked his baby girl for her hard work. He then hung up his phone, put it back into his pocket, and pulled his gun from his holster.

'Come on' he directed his fellow members of the team, and they all bolted into the building. Guns in hand, but, not cocked yet. It was really just a precaution.

They worked their way up to the sixth floor, and after putting their guns back, they found a strange bookcase in Lola's apartment.

'They're not even books' Kate picked one up, 'They're boxes of dominos painted to look like books'.

'Oh, and on those boxes' one of the CSI workers pointed out, 'We've found a couple of fingerprints but none of them match Lola Stephens'.

'The fingerprints are from the killer?' Reid questioned.

'We're running the prints through the database now, but, so far we've found nothing' the CSI worker said.

'What kind of sick UnSub is this? Why does he care so much about freaking dominos?' Morgan commented.

'We've still got to find the phone' Reid reminded them, changing the subject.

'Have you guys checked the study?' Kate's question was aimed at the CSI workers.

'Not yet' the guy answered.

'Perfect place to make a phone call' Kate smiled and with Reid and Morgan following her, they all headed into a room which was Lola's study.

It was almost too easy; when they found a mobile phone in the top drawer of the desk.

'Encrypted' Reid fiddled with the electronic, 'Encrypted so it could dial calls from the phone without actually dialing calls from this particular phone'.

'Oh, well that's great' Kate complained, 'That doesn't help us at all'.

'Look at this' Derek pointed out.

Also stuffed in the desk drawer was one, lone domino.

And written on the back of the domino in thick, black marker were the words 'She deserved it'.

'Who the hell is this guy?'

Just then, Marty came up from the ground floor to check on them, and he walked through the door into the study.

`How is it going?' he asked.

'We've got heaps of clues, but, none of it makes sense' Morgan answered, 'I don't feel any closer to catching this guy'.

'Your other agents went to the club where Lola was fired' Marty explained, 'Maybe they will find something there'.

'I'm sure they will' Kate and Morgan answered in unison; but Reid stayed silent.

He had a feeling that they wouldn't find anything.

Why? Because he knew that JJ wasn't in a good place.

He couldn't help feeling worried about her.

And he couldn't get her face out of his head. The pain he read from it, when she had straight up lied to him and said that 'she was fine'. When she clearly wasn't fine.

'Excuse me' he dismissed himself from the study, and he stepped outside of Lola's apartment into the hallway.

He knew that Morgan and Kate and Marty had probably watched him walk away, and that they'd probably become worried about him.

But, he didn't care.

He just pulled out his phone and dialled.

'Reid?' Penelope answered the phone call, 'What's up?'.

'Have you talked to JJ recently?' he questioned her.

'No, why?'.

'She's struggling with this case, it's hitting her hard, and she can't focus. And I don't know why'.

'What can I do to help?' Penelope offered.

'I just need you to do a favour for me'.

**Thanks for reading! And feel free to leave reviews to let me know what you think; I really appreciate it. **


	6. 6 Being A Friend

**Author's Note: My disclaimer is that I still don't own Criminal Minds, CBS, or any of the characters. **

**Special Thanks to: ''AKupras'', ''AWChic'', ''IwKa'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''lexjl'', ''scumpyca'', ''CMCrazies'', ''CMLeoLover'', ''Chris Obsession'', ''Criminal Minds BAUty'', ''DVdE91'', ''Luuw5683'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''MarnieWest'', ''cmfanbex'', ''ddzzoonn'', ''giderasia'', ''i-Linda'', and ''maclem'' for all your follows and favourites, I really appreciate them; it means a lot. **

**And another special thanks to: ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''lexjl'', ''Jareau37'', ''scumpyca'', ''CMCrazies'' and to 'JuliaBC'' and ''AWChic'' for all of your reviews. **

**I hope you enjoy the next chapter. **

**Chapter Six: ''Being A Friend''**

Knock. Knock. Knock

'Who's there?' Henry yelled at the front door, placing his ear against it.

'It's Auntie Penelope' Garcia rattled the door handle, 'Are you going to let me in?'.

Hesitantly, the little boy flicked the lock, and opened the door; and there he saw his bubbly, colourful, godmother staring back at him.

She was holding a red and green striped bag; his Christmas present.

'How's my favourite little angel, doing?' Penelope asked him, sitting the bag at her feet and picking him up into a hug.

'Alright, Auntie Penny' he answered, burying his nose into the crook of her neck.

'Good to hear it' she kissed his cheek, making him giggle and then she put him down.

'I thought you were working' the boy was confused.

'Well' the analyst smiled at him, 'I had to take some time out of my day to see my favourite godson'.

He curiously pointed at the gift bag which she picked up from the floor, 'What's that?'.

'This is for you, Henry, for Christmas. Do you have a Christmas tree to put it under?'.

'In the living room' he nodded with a little shrug. He allowed his godmother to step inside and he pushed the front door closed behind her.

'Daddy's in the kitchen' he shrugged again and pointed.

'Okay' she nodded, 'How about you put this under the Christmas tree, and I'll go talk to your Dad in the kitchen?'.

'Okay' he nodded. He accepted the gift bag, mumbled a thankyou and then scurried towards the living room.

Penelope watched him pout away, wondering why he was so blue. And then she found her own way to the kitchen.

'Spruced up, detective?' she teased Will who was wearing a flour covered apron.

The man looked up and greeted the guest, 'How are you, Garcia? Did Henry let you in?'.

'Yeah' she nodded, 'Is Henry okay? He actually seems a bit down this Christmas'.

'He's missing JJ' Will answered while stirring a bowl of fruit cake mixture, 'He believes that she will miss out on Christmas. He thinks that she's away too often for work'.

'I see' she sighed, 'And um… is that why JJ is so upset?'.

'Who told you that?' Will wondered. He poured some milk into a measuring jug to measure the recipe quantity.

'Reid. He called me a while again, saying that he needed a favour. He said that JJ was a bit flustered today for some reason, she can't seem to focus. So, I just came to see if everything was okay over here'.

Will nodded, 'Thanks for checking in. We're all okay here'. He went to a cupboard and grabbed a container of sugar, and he began to add that to his cake mix.

'So, has JJ talked to you?' was Penelope's next question as she tried to get back to the topic.

'We got a message from her before. This morning' Will pointed over to the end table where the answering machine sat, 'She just said the usual. That she loves us, and she misses us, and that she'll be home as soon as she can'.

'So, she didn't act like something was wrong?'

'No, but, of course that was this morning' Will looked at his wrist watch, 'Has something happened since then?'.

'No' Garcia shook her head, 'It's just… Reid wouldn't call me unless he was really worried about her'.

Will stopped, 'Spencer's a good bloke. So is Derek. And Aaron and Dave. You have no idea how grateful I am, that those guys take care of Jayje. I'd be worrying my skin out otherwise'.

'…Okay?'

'But, after everything that Hastings did to her and Matt Cruz; JJ has closed off' Will confessed, 'She doesn't open up about her feelings like she used to. She's more sensitive now'.

'What are you saying?'

'I think she's going to have a day when she just breaks apart. Let's go of all her feelings. Loses empathy and has no control. She's going to reach a breaking point'.

'Do you think that's today?' the woman's eye filled with dread. She didn't want somebody she considered one of her best friends to go through such a thing.

'I'm not sure' Will shook his head, 'But, I'll call her to just make sure. I'm doing my best to be there for her, and it's not a disease or anything. I just think that JJ needs a day to let herself be'.

'And what can we do for her, Will?'.

'Be her friend' he told her, 'Be there for her when she really needs you. Let her know that no matter what happens, you'll always stand by her'.

A shuffle was heard behind them. The little boy had returned.

'Is Mommy okay?' Henry asked, with a face of concern.

Will sighed, and picked up the little boy, 'No, cher. Mommy's not sick or anything. She's fine and she's going to be okay'.

'Weally?'

'Yeah, little bud. Really'.

Henry's mood brightened, 'Okay. Can we go finish watching the movie, peez?'.

'I'll just put this in the oven, bud' Will gestured to his fruit cake mix, 'And then, we can go finish it'.

Henry turned to his godmother, 'Can you watch it too, Auntie Penny?'.

'Sorry, dove' she sighed, 'I've got to go back to work'.

'But, as soon as their case is over, Mommy can come home' Will reminded the little boy, who smiled in delight.

'Okay' Henry nodded, 'Good'.

And Will placed his boy back on the ground; who turned to give his godmother a big hug goodbye.

'Happy Christmas, little one' Garcia told him in an embrace.

'Yeah' Henry looked back up at his father, 'Yeah, guess what, Daddy? Aunty Penelope got me a present. I put it under the tree'.

'Okay, little bud. As long as you don't open it until Christmas Day' Will told him as he greased a cake tray with oil.

'Okay. Goodbye, Penny' Henry said again, giving the woman another hug, and then he ran back to the living room where the movie had been left on pause.

His father and his godmother watched him leave.

'Is Henry worried about JJ?' Penelope asked as politely as she could.

'He's still a bit too young to figure out what's going on' Will answered as he poured his cake mix into his lined tin, 'He's yet to tell that JJ's any different to what she was'.

'But, we're all family. And we'll all pull through' she nodded.

'Yeah' Will nodded back, and he placed his cake tin in the oven to bake.

'I'll let you get back to your movie' Penelope nodded, walking back to the entry way to let herself out.

'And I'll let you get back to the Bureau' Will waved, 'But, thankyou for checking in'.

'Oh, you're welcome. I just wanted to see how you were doing' she shrugged.

'Daddy! I pressed play!' Henry called from the living room, his voice echoing down the hall towards the kitchen.

'That's my cue' Will piped; and he started walking towards the hall.

'See you around, detective' Penelope nodded and she was off on her way.

'Garcia' Will called her back and stopped her.

'Yeah?'

'Can you tell the team that I say 'thanks'? Especially Spencer. I really appreciate that you're all looking out for Jayje'.

'It's our job, we're a team' she promised, 'Of course, I'll let them know'.

And with another wave goodbye, Will bolted down the hall towards his little bud, and Penelope headed out back through the front door.

She stopped at the mantelpiece in the entry way and picked up a photograph which she'd found.

It was of Will and Henry and JJ; and JJ had the biggest, brightest smile on her face.

Nobody would ever have been able to guess that she was a federal agent from that photograph. That she had a career that was so gloomy, and evil.

The JJ in the photo looked like she lived in a world of peace, harmony, love and happiness; when in reality, it seemed to be getting dark.

Penelope almost couldn't bear to look at the photo.

So, she put the frame back, and walked out the front door, locking it behind her.

It was in her nature.

Now, that all this had happened; she couldn't help but be in the same boat as Reid.

She couldn't help but worry.

It was just what you did for your friends, you cared about them.

**Feel free to leave comments and reviews; I really appreciate it. And thanks for reading!**


	7. 7 A Way Out

**Disclaimer: I don't own CBS, Criminal Minds, or any of the characters. **

**Special Thanks to: ''scumpyca'', ''lexjl'', ''AWChic'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''chrnarnia3'', ''M0996'', ''IwKa'', ''AKupras'', ''Alane012'', ''CMCrazies'', ''CMLeoLover'', ''Chris Obsession'', ''Cranaxas'', ''Criminal Minds BAUty'', ''DVdE91'', ''Luuw5683'', ''MarnieWest'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''cmfanbex'', ''ddzzoonn'', ''giderasia'', ''i-Linda'', and ''maclem'' for all of your favourites and follows, I really appreciate them. **

**And another special thanks to: ''Jareau37'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''lexjl'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''scumpyca'', ''CMCrazies'' and to 'JuliaBC'' and ''AWChic'' for all of your reviews. **

**Chapter Seven: ''A Way Out''(JJ POV)  
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'You've seemed quiet all day' Hotch told me as we left the nightclub and started driving back to the police station.

'Things on my mind' I shrugged, 'Home, mostly'.

'JJ, I understand that it's a tough time of year with this job; especially when you're a parent. And all you want to do is go home and be with your kids'.

'You don't say' I almost unconsciously scoffed, 'How does Jack go with this time of year?'.

'It's different for Jack' Hotch told me while changing gears to stop at a red light, 'He's gotten used to the fact that he has to spend every holiday without Haley. So, he's usually grateful for whoever is there to spend time with him'.

'That's what I'm trying to teach Henry' I sighed, 'That just because I'm not there, doesn't mean that he doesn't have Will'.

Hotch nodded.

And then it was silent again, and I went back to staring out of the window of the car.

'I meant more about the case' Hotch added, breaking the silence.

'Huh?' I turned back to look at him.

'You've seemed quiet all day and I wondered if maybe, it was this case getting to you'.

'We made rules not to profile each other' I replied.

'This isn't profiling' the red light turned to green and Hotch put the car in drive again, 'This is me being the leader of your team'.

'You don't need to worry about me' I defended with a sigh, and I turned back to the window. Pretty much, just to escape the conversation.

What did I see? I saw some taxi cabs. I saw some people walking into a shopping mall. I saw a guy walking his dog. I saw a hot dog cart. I saw a Starbucks. Then another Starbucks. Then another hot dog cart.

'JJ' Hotch got my attention again, 'You can tell me anything. You know that, right?'.

I nodded. And as politely as I could, I responded with, 'I can also tell anybody else. I can tell Spence. Morgan. Rossi. Kate. Penelope. Will'.

Hotch raised an eyebrow, as if he was waiting for me to say his name.

'You' I finished.

'As long as you understand that' he told me, and then he turned his attention back to the road.

'What do I do?' I asked, bringing the conversation topic back up.

'What do you mean?' he changed gears again and pulled up to another red light.

'Everybody obviously thinks that there's something wrong with me' I blurted, 'So, what do I do?'.

'I'm just making sure that you're okay' he spoke quickly.

The light turned green again, and he took off.

I looked up at the street signs, and I realised that we were a block away from the Police Department.

'Can you stop the car?' I begged.

'What?'

'Can you please stop the car? Pull over?' I repeated.

Hesitantly, he saw a gap signifying a spare parking space and he drove into it.

'What's wrong?' he questioned, concerned.

I ran my hands over my face and through my hair; not knowing of what I was even doing.

Tears filled my eyes and I could feel them begin to sting.

Why did I even want him to stop the car? I didn't know.

'I'm sorry' I apologised; my head in my hands.

'What can I do?' he asked.

'I'm walking back to the station' I replied, opening up the car door, 'I just need a minute'.

'Are you okay?' he repeated.

'Yeah, I just need some fresh air' I nodded, 'You go'.

I got out of the car, and closed the door behind me. I could tell that he was hesitant in leaving me, but, I just stared back at him with pleading, teary eyes.

'Please' I whispered.

And he nodded; deciding to respect my wish.

He waited for a break in the traffic, and he started the car and drove away.

I watched him get a few metres ahead, and then I started following, walking.

I was in my own world as I was walking along.

But, I knew that I just needed something. Fresh air. Peace. Anything. Something.

Something that would make me feel better.

I stood against a building, under a little roof cover, and I whipped out my mobile phone.

'JJ' Will answered my phone call, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

'Are you okay?' was his first question.

I smiled, 'Yeah, I'm fine. I just really wanted to hear your voice'. I was grinning from ear to ear, and I felt as if a huge weight had just lifted off my shoulders; I felt free.

'How are you?' I asked Will.

'We're good. Just eating fruit cake' his voice suddenly muffled as if it was full of food. My guess was, he had just taken another bite, 'And yourself?'.

'I'm really missing you guys' I answered honestly.

'Hang on a second…' Will told me and he seemed to have covered the mouthpiece. 'Henry, do you want to talk to Mommy?' I heard him say.

There was another few seconds of silence, but, I could hear the phone change hands.

'Hello, Henry' I told him.

'Hey, Mommy' he answered back.

'How are you?'

'Alright' he shrugged, 'Are you coming home for Christmas?'.

I bit my lip. I was actually hoping that he wouldn't ask that question. I was afraid the answer would flip him off, and he'd turn on me again.

But, I hated lying to him.

'I don't know yet, little man' I told him.

'Daddy wants to talk to you again' he spat at me, and then he must've passed the phone back to Will because he was gone.

Tears filled my eyes.

'Are you okay?' Will asked.

'I don't want Henry to hate me' I sighed, 'He's not having a very easy time, is he?'.

I could hear Will sigh too.

'Is there any way you could come home?' he asked, almost desperately.

I was surprised, 'You know I can't do that. I'm in the middle of a case'.

'I know that' he nodded, 'Forget I asked'.

This conversation was really not going how I had planned.

'Look, I can hear Henry crying in his room' Will told me, 'Can I call you later?'.

'Sure' I sighed.

'I love you' Will said, and then he hung up the phone.

It wasn't really like me to get upset about it, but, I didn't feel too good knowing that he didn't give me a chance to say 'I love you' back.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket, and I looked up and began to just observe the street-goers.

I watched as the people of New York just carried about their day.

Drinking their coffee in their take-away cups. Carrying shopping bags. Eating their hot dogs.

A busker was playing music.

A guy dressed up in a Santa Claus suit was ringing a bell and asking for charity donations.

People smoked their cigarettes.

Two drunk guys were giving each other piggybacks.

Everybody seemed to be having a pretty good day, except me.

After Marty had told us about the new victim; I had gone with Hotch to the nightclub where Lola had worked.

There we had met, the most disrespectful man on the planet.

Not only was he extremely verbally abusive (I wondered how Hotch had managed to stand his ground, because I was sincerely afraid of the man's outbursts towards the FBI) he was an inconsiderate, heartless, greed.

He ran the club for money, and that had been it.

He was very upset that the FBI had to poke themselves into his business just because Lola, described as the tart he'd fired a fortnight earlier, was dead.

Needless to say I was glad when that whole interview with that man was over.

Hotch had concluded that he wasn't our UnSub; so thankfully, that meant that we didn't have to see him again, anyway.

And I was grateful for the support that Hotch had given me, both at the club, and the talk that we'd just had in the car.

But here I am now.

I just kicked myself out of the car (for no apparent real reason), and now, I was slumped against the side of a building wishing that things were different.

I sighed.

What the hell was wrong with me?

To keep my feelings until wraps, so I didn't break down in the middle of the street; I started walking again.

And I walked down to the next block, and I went to the police station.

I scanned my credentials, I made identifications, and I made my back into our 'BAU' workroom.

But, before I even got very far, and before I could be rejoined with the others; Hotch grabbed my arm and pulled me into a corner to talk.

'Are you okay?' he asked.

I nodded, 'I'm fine'.

'Because, I'm sending you home. You want to be home. And I don't want to stop you from being there' he told me, 'You can pack your stuff and I will release you from this case. You can go home'.

'Hotch?' I was surprised, 'Really?'.

'I'm giving you a free way out because I don't want you working this case if you're distracted'.

He folded his arms, 'The choice is yours, are you leaving?'.

'I can really leave?' I gasped.

'Yes'

I didn't even have to say anything; he already knew my answer.

'Tell us when you get home safe' he directed, 'we're about to put together a profile'.

He turned, and headed back to the table where the rest of the team were working.

And I just watched.

Morgan was talking on the phone to Penelope.

Rossi was talking with Kate; Hotch joined them, and started scribbling some UnSub profile details onto a whiteboard.

And Spence, looked up and his eyes met mine. He was concerned; I didn't even have to be a profiler to tell that he was worried about me.

And just as quickly as he had looked up, he turned and started working again.

Without meaning to, my hands wrapped around my stomach and my heart was in my throat.

My team was working, and now I wasn't, because I had a free way out.

And they didn't.

All I had wanted to do this whole time, was to leave and go home. And now I could.

So, why did it feel so wrong to say yes?

And why was it, that all of a sudden, all I wanted to do was stay, with them?

**Thanks for reading! And free feel to leave reviews, I really appreciate it. The next chapter's coming as soon as possible. **

**Oh, and by the way - hope everybody had a Merry Christmas!**


	8. 8 One More Day

**Disclaimer: I still don't own CBS, Criminal Minds or any of the characters. **

**AN: This is sort of a filler chapter, but, I hope you like it just the same. **

**Special Thanks to: ''10405Jana'', ''AKupras'', ''AWChic'', ''EllieIsNotNormal'', ''IwKa'', ''LichMaster701'', ''LouisBeGreen'', ''M0996'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''chrnarnia3'', ''criminalxxxmindsxxxreid'', ''lexjl'', ''scumpyca'', ''Alane012'', ''CMCrazies'', ''CMLeoLover'', ''Chris Obsession'', ''ChrissyGleek'', ''Cranaxas'', ''Criminal Minds BAUty'', ''DVdE91'', ''Luuw5683'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''MarnieWest'', ''cmfanbex'', ''ddzzoonn'', ''i-Linda'', ''giderasia'', and ''maclem'' for all of your favourites and follows, I really appreciate them! **

**And Special Thanks to: ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''JuliaBC'', ''AWChic'', ''Jareau37'', ''CMCrazies'', ''scumpyca'', ''lexjl'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', and ''LichMaster701'' for all of your reviews! **

**Chapter Eight: ''One More Day'' (JJ POV) **

I spent about five minutes standing there and pondering; watching the fluent work of my team. Then, I started wondering about what the team would have been thinking.

Hotch had just dismissed me; it was clear that he didn't think I was strong enough to stay.

It probably sounds really bad when I put it like that, but, Hotch has never actually sent one of us away before.

I couldn't help thinking; 'How crap do I actually look?'.

If Hotch was breaking his own rules and sending us home in the middle of the case; there must've been a damn good reason for him to be doing so. A reason much better than, 'She's missing her husband and her son'.

So, what was I missing? Was there more to it?

Meanwhile, every ten seconds, Spence would look up at me again. His eyes would fill with worry, and just as quickly, he'd turn around and pretend that he was never staring.

Rossi, being the most observant of the whole lot was watching Spence. And every time Spence would stare at me with concern, Rossi would do the same.

Then, they'd just continue about their work.

Not, that they were being disrespectful every time they looked away.

In my opinion, the case was more important than my feelings; but, them being my team, they were still looking at for me anyway. Which was nice to know.

Morgan was still on the phone to Penelope, but, he covered the mouth piece in the middle of his phone call (surprisingly, because he never did that), whispered to me 'Are you okay?', waited for me to nod, and then he turned his attention back to Garcia.

Derek was looking out for me too. As I knew Garcia would be at home, if she knew the story.

And Kate?

I watched with intent as she quietly broke away from the team, walked over to a coffee machine in the corner, brewed two cups, and then came over to me and offered me one.

'Are you okay?' she asked with a smile.

I thanked her for the coffee and took a sip.

'Yeah, I'm fine' I answered, nodding.

'Good'

She sipped her drink too, and then there was a silence that froze us both in communication. She seemed speechless, and me… I didn't think I could say anything that could make anything better.

I didn't even know what was wrong with me.

'Look' she finally spoke, 'I hope everything turns out okay'.

'Thanks' I nodded again.

How else could I have responded?

She looked like she was about to say something else too, but Morgan chose that time to interrupt us both.

'Hey, JJ' he called to me, offering me his mobile, 'Garcia wants to talk to you. Is that okay?'.

I nodded, and turned to Kate; feeling a bit apologetic that she didn't get to tell me what she wanted to say.

'Oh, that's okay' she shrugged, 'Um, I'll let you talk to Penelope'.

Then she walked away and rejoined the work table. Rossi was having a look at the dominos left behind at the scene, and she joined him.

Morgan let Kate walk back and then he came up to me; offering the cell phone.

'Thanks' I mumbled with a small smile, and I accepted it. 'Hello, Penelope?'.

'Hey, jaybird, how are you doing?'

'I'm good. Why?' I shrugged.

'I've got Will on my other line. He wanted me to pass you through' she explained, 'He was struggling to get the call through to you, so he called me'.

'Sure, I guess' I nodded, even though I knew Garcia couldn't see me.

And then I heard her click on a few buttons.

And a couple of seconds after that, I heard Will's voice.

'Is that audio good?' Penelope asked.

'Yeah, that's great Penelope' Will thanked her, and then he started talking to me. (Penelope must've muted her line on the call or something, because she was gone and I couldn't hear her anymore).

'What's up, Will?' I questioned.

'I just found Henry crying in his bedroom. He found his Christmas present from us in the hall cupboard'.

'Has he opened it?' I demanded quickly. The last thing I wanted was for my son to get into a habit of opening his presents early.

'No, he hasn't. But, he has read the 'present address card''.

'I'm confused' I shrugged, laughing, 'What's the problem?'.

'The present address card reads 'To Henry, With Love From Mom and Dad'.

'So, what's wrong with that?'.

'He had a meltdown and fears that you still won't be home for Christmas so he got a marker and scribbled all over your name. Now it just says, 'To Henry, With Love From Dad''.

I sighed, 'Can I talk to him?'.

'He doesn't want to' Will told me with a sad sting in his voice, 'He doesn't want to talk to you until you come home for Christmas'.

'Well, tell him the good news' I smiled, 'Hotch just dismissed me from the case. I can leave if I want to, and I can come home'.

I heard Will breathe a sigh of relief, 'Thankyou. I really need you home'.

'I'll be there as soon as I can' I promised. With the phone still pressed to my ear, I looked up, just to casually see what everybody else was doing. And as I watched my team continue to work; concern appeared on my face.

The frustration level was growing. I could tell.

Tired bags were under each of their eyes. They are looked exhausted as they built the profile together.

It looked like it took an immense amount of effort, just to raise their coffee cups to their lips. And the caffeine didn't seem to be making anyone any livelier.

'Actually, Will' I added, 'On second thought, I've got some work I need to finish up here with the team. They need me. But, I'll definitely be home tomorrow'.

'Tomorrow it is. See you then' he told me, and after a bit more quick conversation, we said our goodbyes and hung up.

I walked back to the table, and I passed Morgan his cell phone back.

Then I just observed the moods of the group.

Reid and Kate were slumped in their chairs, their arms folded underneath their chins.

Hotch was trying to be motivated, but, he looked like he was about to pass out from exhaustion. He was walking around the room, almost pacing. But, with every pace, he struggled more and more to move. He ended up crashing in the empty chair beside Kate.

Morgan was brooding on whether he could call Garcia again, but, the amount of effort it took just to unlock his phone, took too much out of him. He crashed too.

And Rossi? He was flipping through a file, but eventually, he slammed the document closed and threw it onto the table, where the strong forced pushed it off and the papers scattered across the ground.

But, nobody was bothered to pick the spilled papers up.

Nobody moved.

'I'm so tired' Kate yawned and politely covered her mouth.

'What about you, JJ?' Spence turned to me, 'Is the lucky one taking her pass out of here and going home to the land of 'No Work?''.

I folded my arms across my chest and shrugged.

'Well' I smirked, 'I think you guys need me around for one day longer'.

I sat down in the last empty chair at the table, and the others all smiled at me.

'Are you sure that you're up for it?' Hotch asked.

'Just one more day' I smiled and nodded, 'I'm fine'.

'Are you sure that you're fine?' Reid raised his eyebrows, his eyes locked to my own. It was his way of telling me that I couldn't lie about how I was feeling this time.

I couldn't lie to him again.

'Yeah' I nodded truthfully, 'I'm fine, for one more day'.

Morgan, who was sitting beside me, quickly wrapped one of his arms around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze.

'She's back!' he exclaimed, 'We need you Jayje'.

'Yeah' Kate added, 'This case is eating us all out. I don't even know what I'm doing'.

Reid took over, 'We've got a signature of a domino, with no apparent meaning. We've got five victims; four who were beaten to death and the other, Lola, who was thrown from her balcony. We've got no apparent time line. No apparent abduction site. Nobody is reported missing. There's no DNA left at the scene'.

'So, what do we have? What do we need?' Rossi asked the rhetorical question.

'The thing that we need to finish this case is the thing we don't want' Hotch told us with his arms folded.

'More victims'.

**I have to spend the next couple of days without Wi-Fi, so we'll see when the next update is. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. And please review to let me know what you're thinking. **

**But, ultimately, thanks for reading! **


	9. 9 The Job

**Disclaimer: I still don't own CBS or Criminal Minds or any of the characters. **

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. I just had a nineteen hour plane flight. And this is sort of a filler chapter, but I hope you like it just the same. **

**Special Thanks to: ''10405Jana'', ''AKupras'', ''AWChic'', ''EllieIsNotNormal'', ''IwKa'', ''LichMaster701'', ''LouisBGreen'', ''M0996'', ''XoxMountainGirl'', ''chrnarnia3'', ''criminalxxxmindsxxxreid'', ''lexjl'', ''scumpyca'', ''Alane012'', ''Chris Obsession'', ''CMCrazies'', ''CMLeoLover'', ''ChrissyGleek'', ''Cranaxas'', ''Criminal Minds BAUty'', ''DVdE91'', ''Jareau-26'', ''Luuw5683'', ''MarnieWest'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''cmfanbex'', ''ddzzoonn'', ''i-Linda'', ''maclem'', and ''giderasia'' for all of your favourites and follows. **

**And another special thanks to: ''Laydia'', ''Jareau37'', ''lexjl'', ''JuliaBC'', ''scumpyca'', ''AWChic'', ''LichMaster701'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', and ''CMCrazies'' for all of the reviews. It really means a lot. **

**Chapter Nine: ''The Job''**

He had been proud of a lot of things.

He'd been proud of his family: the day he married Karen, the day they bought a house, the day they found out they were expecting a baby. The day their first daughter was born. The days which their other two daughters were born. The day their oldest started school. The day their youngest had her first birthday.

Things like that. He was always proud of his girls.

But, he was also proud of his other family, his work family. He was proud the day his mates got a promotion. The day his boss got married. The day that a case ended well. The day the vending machine broke down, and everything was free from it until it got fixed.

And another example of when Marty was proud?

Right now.

He walked into the backroom where the Behavioural Analysis Unit had been placed, and was surprised when he saw the team.

It was estimated 4:00am in the morning, and the team were all there. They all looked like they slept on the table, and had spent the night living on vending machine pretzels for supper. The packets in the rubbish bin proved the point.

But, they never went home. They all stayed the night in the office, working the case.

And Marty had never been prouder of somebody's dedication to the job. The BAU meant business, and nobody on that team gave up. Ever.

He had to admit, he was impressed.

Papers were scattered everywhere. Whiteboards markers were strewn on every surface. And the team were just happily bounding about, talking to each other about the profile and writing things down.

'Good Morning, Marty' Hotchner greeted him, catching the attention of everybody else, 'Did you have a good night?'.

'Pleasant evening with the family, Hotchner' Marty nodded, 'And yourselves?'.

'Yeah' Morgan folded his arms across his chest, 'We're all good. Just working the profile'.

Marty bit his lip, 'I didn't really know you guys were still here. Did anybody dismiss you home for the night?'.

'Nup' Morgan shook his head, 'But, that's okay. We had our work cut out for us'.

'I'm so sorry. If I knew, I wouldn't have left you guys here'.

'Marty' Hotch shut him up, 'Don't apologise. This is our job. We're happy to do it'.

'Okay' Marty nodded. 'But, aren't you guys tired?'.

'We were. But, we all pulled together. We're fine now'.

'And we got coffee' Reid added, gesturing to his cup in his hands and he took a big sip.

'Wanna cup?' Kate offered passing the PD officer a paper cup, which Marty accepted with thanks.

'So' the man shuffled from one foot to the other. 'Do you want me to gather the PD, and listen to the profile?'

'Actually' Rossi stopped him, 'We might need another hour or so, to finish it up, we're still finalizing'.

'Okay' Marty nodded, 'Well, I'm here now, so, I'm around if you need anything'. He pointed to the door, and started heading for it. 'Thankyou, Agent Callahan for the coffee' he raised his cup before he turned to walk away.

'You're welcome' Kate told him, and while Marty left the room, the team all gathered again to go through their notes one last time. Coffee in hand, of course.

They'd never had a more difficult profile.

(Well, actually, they'd probably had. But, when you're up to your elbows in difficulty, you don't really think about what you've done before. You can only focus on what you're doing at the particular time).

All they really knew about the UnSub was that he was most likely a white male. Mid twenty to Mid thirty in age. He wouldn't be married and he'd have no children, because otherwise he would've shown remorse towards his victims. He had some obsession with dominos, as well as the number two. He probably suffered some sort of trigger right at the time before the killings started.

But, there were so many variables, nothing was really clear.

The UnSub was smart too; he left no DNA and no fingerprints. He managed to abduct people off the street, kill them, and discard their bodies without having any witnesses. There wasn't much of a geographical profile to work on. Everything almost seemed random.

'Okay' Kate paused, 'The first victims; the druggie and the prostitute, Justin and Sam. They were high risk victims who wouldn't be missed if they disappeared' she pointed to the victim photos, ' And then Jenna and Carl. A vet and a child care worker. Also not reported missing. Wouldn't you think that Jenna and Carl were so low-risk, that the missing report would come through?'

'You'd think so' Rossi nodded, 'But, then there's Lola Stephens. She wasn't missing either'.

'The MO and the Cause of Death were different with Lola too' Hotch added.

'So' Morgan picked up a crime scene photo of Lola Stephens and examined, 'So, there's something about Lola. You know, we talked about Lola being the person who the UnSub wanted to kill all along'.

'So, who would have a serious grudge towards Lola?' Kate interjected, 'A member of her family, perhaps?'.

Hotch picked up a file on the nightclub and started flipping through it.

'What about...' he suggested, 'What about the man who Lola was fired with? The bouncer?'.

'I'll call Garcia' and Morgan whipped out his phone.

After the bantering greeting of 'Talk to me, chocolate doll' Morgan asked the technical analyst to investigate the name of the bouncer.

'You ready for this?' Penelope chirped as she typed, but then she gasped (one which caused the whole team to feel cautious), 'The bouncer was Justin Corrigan'.

Rossi sighed, and wiped his brow. 'That's no help at all to us, then. Justin couldn't have killed Lola because he was already dead'.

'Wait' Kate paused and raised a finger in a hushed gesture, 'That phone call, the one that was from 'Don't Answer'. We never got to the bottom of who that caller was. It could've been the UnSub, using Justin's phone'.

'Okay' Morgan looked over at Reid (them being the other agents who joined Kate to investigate the house in the first place), who nodded in return.

'That's probably right'.

But, before anybody could say anything else, there was a knock at the door.

'Sorry to interrupt again' Marty apologized, with his lip bit. He was carrying eight files in his arms.

'What's going on?' Hotch folded his arms, concerned.

Marty sighed, and started passing the files out to each of the team members; who in turn thanked him, and started flipping through them.

'This is Cassandra Davis and John Wagner. Both worked together in a business firm. They both left work last night and haven't been seen since'.

'Latest abductions?' Kate swallowed as she flipped through the file.

'Yep' Marty nodded, 'Cassandra's cell phone was found outside of a restaurant. A domino was left behind beside it'.

'That's our guy' Rossi sighed.

'He's leaving dominos at the abduction sites now' Morgan commented with a scoff, 'Not just at the dumping site. It's like he's getting bolder with his signature. He wants us to know it's him'.

'John Wagner's wife is pregnant, and she's already pleading with the PD that she wants her husband home' Marty continued. He looked each of the team in the eye, 'What's the chances that she'll see John again?'.

'Good' Hotch spoke confidently, 'Marty, gather the officers in here to listen to the profile'.

'The profile's not great' Reid shot a worried look at Hotch, with a bit lip.

It was the truth, the profile barely had anything.

Rossi looked at the genius and nodded, 'But a partial is better than nothing'.

'Marty, tell the PD we've got work to do. We're not going to let anybody else fall victim to this guy'.

And nodding, Marty did what he was told and he walked away to gather his fellow officers.

'Hotch' Morgan questioned, 'You sounded too confident there, man. You realise that there's always going to be a chance that we can't save everyone?'.

'I know' the leader nodded, 'But, there's too much at stake here. There's too many victims. Too many variables. And, we're going to do the very best we can to end this'.

And that was the final straw.

It was either solve the case, or die trying.

**Thanks for reading! And feel free to leave reviews, they're greatly appreciated. The next chapter will be coming as soon as possible. **


	10. 10 Profile Instincts

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, or CBS, or any of the characters. **

**Author's Note: The first part of this chapter with all the dialogue is the team delivering the profile and the second half is JJ's Point of View. Should be easily understandable, but, just in case it isn't – this is what it's supposed to be. Thanks. **

**Special Thanks to: ''10405Jana'', ''AWChic'', ''AKupras'', ''EllieIsNotNormal'', ''IwKa'', ''LichMaster701'', ''LouisBGreen'', ''M0996'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''chrnarnia3'', ''criminalxxxmindsxxxreid'', ''jjcrimminds'', ''lexjl'', ''scumpyca'', ''maclem'', ''i-Linda'', ''giderasia'', ''ddzzoonn'', ''cmfanbex'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''MarnieWest'', ''Luuw5683'', ''Jareau-26'', ''CMLeoLover'', ''Criminal Minds BAUty'', ''DVdE91'', ''ChrissyGleek'', ''Cranaxas'', ''CMCrazies'', ''Chris Obsession'', ''Alane012'', and ''Jean-Moddalle'' for all of your beautiful favourites and follows; I really appreciate them. **

**And Special Thanks to: ''Laydia'', ''JuliaBC'', ''AWChic'', ''lexjl'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''scumpyca'', ''LichMaster701'', and ''CMCrazies'' for all of the reviews; I appreciate them immensely. **

**Chapter Ten: 'Profile Instinct' (JJ POV) **

'We're looking for a white male. Mid twenties to mid thirties. Two weeks ago, he's suffered some form of trigger which has caused him to act rational towards people whom remind him of the 'so called trigger''.

'The trigger would be basic; some form of loss. But, since we don't know what it is yet, all we can proclaim is that it'd be a loss of a job, a loss of love, a love of something else that he cared about'.

'This UnSub has no empathy nor sympathy. He won't be able to be talked down, unless we can get into his head and understand more about why he's doing this'.

'He's extremely violent. He seems to be abducting and killing random people off the street. From what we've gathered from a geographical profile, he doesn't have a comfort zone. Which, puts everybody in the city in immediate danger'.

'He has two victims on him right now. John Wagner and Cassandra Davis. He doesn't usually kidnap more victims until he disposes of the ones he already has. The only way we're going to find Cassandra and John alive, is if we find the UnSub right now'.

'This guy no longer has a time period pattern. We don't know when he's going to dump Cassandra and John, nor where. But, this tells us that he has a location where he keeps his victims'.

'We're running out of time. Sooner or later, Cassandra and John are going to lose their lives. And we don't know how much time they'll have left'.

'The UnSub's violent level tells us that he'll probably be antagonized by whatever Cassandra and John do wrong according to his standards. So, pretty much, if they piss him off; they're gone and there's no hope for them'.

'We have our fingers crossed that they can hold out until we find the UnSub's location'.

'Which won't be easy. This UnSub is skilfully clever. He manages to abduct his victims with no witnesses and he doesn't leave anything behind on scene that gives us any clue of who he is; besides the domino'.

'The domino is placed at the crime scene and abduction sites to resemble how the UnSub feels. He feels that his life is no longer in his control. He's broken; unstable. Pretty much, his world is toppling over'.

'Nobody will know this man, besides his immediate family. And his family will probably have noticed that he hasn't been himself for the last two weeks. He probably hasn't contacted them since his trigger has torn everything apart'.

'Which helps us out a bit. We need to look at family members who have recently suffered something in the last two weeks. An event that particularly struck out at one family member in particular'.

'Our UnSub won't have children. But, somebody, even if it is only one person; they'll know this man'.

'But, at the same time; this UnSub's trigger has literally taken everything out of him. And perhaps it was even the death of the only other family member he had. Which means that there's also a chance that we won't be able to track down the people who know him'.

'To clear that up; you need to find the trigger to find the people. Check in with the hospitals, the newspapers, the family centres, the lawyers. There's been an event that happened over two weeks ago, that's turned one man's life on it's head. Find the trigger. Find the fiend. Find the victims'.

'So, what does he do to his victims while he has them?' one police officer asked.

'There's no sexual conduct or assault. This isn't about impotence. We call this the 'Venge' situation. For this UnSub, it's about avenge or revenge'.

'He's slaughtering his victims to death; it's his form of torture. He's literally tearing his victims apart, bludgeoning them to death. It's about feeling, and witnessing his victims lose their lives'.

'He's bashing his victims, or in Lola Stephen's case; he's putting them in a position that would grant the victim's maximum terror and pain'.

'Lola's cause of death was different to all the rest. She was thrown from her balcony. Which probably means that Lola's murder wasn't random. He chose her for a reason; so, we need some of you to focus on her background'.

'This UnSub won't stop until we catch him. He's a serial killer that will put the rest of the city in jeopardy until we catch him. Cassandra and John's abductions tell us, that he's in no means to stop what he's doing'.

'If Lola was his main target; he would've stop killing after she was dead, which proves this is all far from over'.

'Check abandoned lots. Warehouses. Alleys. This guy needs a place where he can keep his victims. It'd be isolated and in a position where nobody else would witness what the UnSub is doing and where nobody could hear the victims scream'.

'And remember, we've got two lives on the line right now, so we need to work as fast as possible'.

'Thankyou'.

I bit my lip as I watched the police officers make their way out of the gather.

Rossi walked over to me, 'Are you okay?'.

'Yeah' I shrugged, 'I just hope that we gave them enough information, so that Cassandra and John don't run out of time'.

_For all we know, we've just wasted five minutes. They could already be dead and those five minutes could've saved their lives. _

Rossi walked out into the hallway and to the next room along; our 'BAU' room. I notionally followed his footsteps, and we both hit the coffee machine.

I stirred my cup with a wooden paddle stick and silently sipped it, while Rossi pretty much didn't touch his; he just watched as I drank mine.

'Case is hitting you hard, eh?' he asked, placing his untouched coffee back on the bench.

'Still pondering what I'm going to do' I admitted, 'I told you guys that I was just going to stay for one more day. I'd leave this afternoon if that was the case… but…'

'Now, you're feeling guilty about leaving'.

'There's two lives on the line, Rossi' I grasped, 'How can I leave and go see Henry when there's a man out there, John, who might not even live long enough to see his baby be born?'.

'Nobody would blame you for leaving. Nobody was going to blame you'.

'But, I'd blame me' I sighed, 'It just seems selfish, what I'm doing'.

'This is the job, and it is allowed to eat you up, you know?'.

I sighed again, 'I might go call Will, and ask him what I should do'. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.

'If anybody asks, I'll tell them you're making a call' Rossi promised, 'I'll go talk to Hotch and we'll see how Reid and Kate went at the restaurant'.

'They'll probably want to hear how we went at the profile delivering, too' I added.

Rossi nodded, and he started walking out the door again; mind you, I don't know why he made the cup of coffee, it was still untouched on the bench beside me. He didn't take it with him.

'Oh, JJ' he turned back before he walked out.

I stopped mid-dial of my phone call.

'Yeah?'.

'Whatever happens, it's okay, kiddo' he told me.

I smiled, 'Thanks'.

And he walked out of the room, back to Hotch and Marty and the others. While, I just stayed with my coffee and my mobile.

And I called Will.

It took five rings before he answered.

'Hey, Cher' he greeted.

'Hey'

'Listen, um. The UnSub just abducted two more victims. I might need one more day'.

'Sure… JJ'

I could tell he was disappointed. Probably for Henry's sake.

'Look, I'm sorry, Will' I apologized.

'Henry really needs you, Jennifer. He's cracking apart every time he even sees a photo of you'.

'He knows that I need to work'.

'It still doesn't make anything easier'.

'Would he like to talk to me?' I wondered, hopefully.

Will sighed, 'Nope. He's just heading back to his room. He's been quiet all day'.

'Tell him I love him' I nodded; whispered.

'I will'.

'And I love you too' I added.

'I know that, JJ. I love you too. Just, get home safe, alright. As soon as you can'.

'You're not mad?' I questioned, my lip bit again.

'No, I'm not. Get the people home safe. Catch the guy you need to catch, and then just jump on that plane and come tell your little bud that you're home'.

'I will' I promised.

I overheard Rossi and Hotch talking from the other room; it sounded like Reid and Kate had come back from investigating the restaurant where Cassandra's phone had been found.

It was probably best that I caught up with the rest of the team.

Morgan had been sending Cassandra's phone data to Penelope, so it was probably good if we caught up with them as well.

'Will, I've got to go' I told him.

The team's voices echoing louder; distracting me from my call.

'Sure, love you, cher' and he hung up.

I nodded, to no one in particular, and I slipped my phone back into my pocket.

I sculled the last sip of my (only warm, now) coffee and I threw the empty paper cup into the rubbish bin.

I then spun on my heel, and headed back to join the rest of the team.

I was hopeful that we'd find Cassandra and John alive, but, I'd been told before to always trust my instincts; and if I was honest, my instincts were telling me that we somehow just wouldn't quite make the cut to save them in time.

Although, what did my instincts know?

My instincts were also telling me that I had to get as far away from this case as I possible could.

I guess some instincts just need to be ignored.

But, if I knew what was going to happen; I probably wouldn't have ignored those ones.

I didn't know how wrong I could be, when it came to guessing what was to happen.

**A/N: (Oh, and I'm sorry if the profile was a bit too long, I was trying to roll all of the details in it). Thanks for reading! And feel free to leave your reviews. The next chapter will be coming as soon as possible!**


	11. 11 Sweet Medicine

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Criminal Minds, CBS, or any of the characters. **

**Special Thanks to: ''10405Jana'', ''123098'', ''AKupras'', ''AWChic'', ''Alane012'', ''Becaboo'', ''CMCrazies'', ''CMLeoLover'', ''Chris Obsession'', ''ChrissyGleek'', ''Cranaxas'', ''Criminal Minds BAUty'', ''DVdE91'', ''EllieIsNotNormal'', ''IwKa'', ''Jareau-26'', ''Jean-Moddalle'', ''LichMaster701'', ''Luuw5683'', ''M0996'', ''MarnieWest'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''chrnarnia3'', ''cmfanbex'', ''criminalxxxmindsxxxreid'', ''ddzzoonn'', ''giderasia'', ''i-Linda'', ''jjcrimminds'', ''lexjl'', ''maclem'', ''scumpyca'', ''Jareau37'' and ''LouisBGreen'' for all of the favourites and follows. They mean a lot to me. **

**And Special Thanks to: ''Jareau37'', ''Laydia'', ''JuliaBC'', ''AWChic'', ''lexjl'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''scumpyca'', ''LichMaster701'', ''CMCrazies'' and ''Becaboo'' for all of the reviews, they mean a lot to me as well. **

**Chapter Eleven: Sweet Medicine**

'Stupid cap' Will muttered under his breath. He fiddled with the lid on the blender; where for some reason the lid didn't want to click into it's usual place.

'What are you doing, Dad?' Henry questioned, walking into the kitchen and opening up the refrigerator.

'I was about to make cocoa' Will explained, 'But, I was unloading the dishwasher, and found out that Mom's blender is broken'.

'Oh' Henry nodded, 'Can I have some milk?'.

The hinge on the blender snapped into two pieces. Will sighed. 'Sure, bud. You can have some. Just give me a minute, okay?'.

'Okay' the boy sighed. He left the carton of milk on the kitchen table, and started walking back to his bedroom.

'Hey, bud' Will stopped him before he could leave the kitchen, 'You don't have to go again. You can stay. With me'.

'I'm busy' Henry told him.

'Doing what?'.

'Something in my room' Henry crossed his arms.

Will could sense that the boy's temper was becoming flared. Not wanting to upset him any further; he let him go.

'Okay. You can go back to your room. I'll call you when I've got your milk, okay?'.

Henry nodded, but didn't say anything. He spun on his heel, and headed back to his bedroom.

The sound of the slamming door, echoed.

_Please, JJ. I need you to come home. _Will sighed, the echo still ringing in his ear.

But, he shook his head at himself to shake away the thought.

JJ was working. He knew that. Otherwise, she would have come home.

JJ was just as upset about Henry, as Henry was at her.

And considering the case still had to be solved, there was nothing really that Will could do; other than trying to live in the middle of it all.

'Daddy'

The boy's voice made him snap out of his dreaming.

Will nodded, 'Yeah, little bud?'.

'What's in a 'minute?'' Henry questioned.

'Sixty seconds' Will answered.

'And what's in 'sixty seconds?''

Will licked his lip, 'Um, you've got to count to ten, six times'. It was the best way, he could think of, to get Henry to understand.

'Okay' Henry nodded, and then started bounding back down the hall to his bedroom.

'Little bud' Will called softly after him, but, Henry was already out of earshot to stop.

The man grabbed the broken blender hinge, frustrated with it; he threw into the trash bin. And then he followed Henry to the boy's bedroom.

Will was surprised, and curious, when he rounded the doorway and saw what Henry was doing.

'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten' Henry counted on his fingers.

And after the boy counted to ten, he grabbed a colouring-in pencil and drew one line on a sheet of paper; like a tally mark.

'One, two three, four…' he counted again.

And after counting to ten again, he draw another tally mark beside the first.

Will just watched Henry's procedure.

After the boy had six tally marks on his piece of paper, he got out another piece of paper, and draw one tally mark on it.

'What are you doing, little cher?' Will finally had the heart to question.

'I don't want you to know' Henry whispered, and he quickly flipped his pieces of paper over; it seemed he was embarrassed that his father was seeing his handiwork.

But, when Will knelt down on the ground beside his son, and flipped the pieces of paper back over, exposing the tally marks; Henry didn't stop him.

'What is all this, little cher?' Will asked again.

Henry sighed, before he answered.

'I'm counting how many minutes Mommy has been gone for' he sniffled.

Will was heartfelt, and he pulled Henry into his lap for a hug.

'I don't think you need to do that, little bud' he told him.

'Why not?' Henry asked.

'Because' Will stroked his hair, 'I just think that if you count how long Mommy has been away for, it'll just make you even more sad'.

'Okay' Henry nodded, 'But, then I can show Mommy how long I've missed her for'.

Will used his fingers to draw a little asterisk on Henry's forehead, 'She doesn't need proof that you've missed her, little cher'.

'She doesn't? I thought proove was good'

'Proof' Will corrected him. 'No, little man. She doesn't need proof that you've missed her. She already knows. And she always knows'.

'How does she know?'

'She's smart' Will smiled, 'Your Mom just knows'.

'But, how does she know?'.

'See…' he paused, 'Henry, see. Proof is a bit like love. Sometimes you don't need to see it to believe it. Sometimes you can just feel it. You can sense it'.

'Like _Spiderman _has _spidersense_?' Henry asked, with a hopeful look in his eyes.

'Yeah, little bud. A bit like that'.

Henry nodded. He grabbed one of his tallied pieces of paper, and he scrunched it up into a ball. He threw it into his waste paper basket, which sat in the corner of his room.

The paper rebounded off the rim of the basket, and fell to the floor.

'You almost got that in' Will told Henry; proudly acknowledging the 'almost achievement'.

Henry grinned, and dashed to pick up the piece of paper and place it into the bin properly.

He then edged back to his father and gave Will another hug.

'Can I have my milk now, please?' the boy asked.

Will wiped his brow, 'I'm sorry, I almost forgot about it. Sure, we can have some milk'.

'Yeah' Henry jumped to his feet and dashed towards the hallway.

'Hey, little bud' Will called him back; rising to his feet too.

'Yeah?' Henry asked excitedly.

'Do you want some chocolate milk? I can make hot cocoa, like I was going to'.

'Yeah, please' Henry nodded, and scampered down the hall again, towards the kitchen.

Will followed him and picked Henry up to sit on a counter stool.

'Can I watch?' Henry asked.

'Sure' Will began to make his way around the kitchen; grabbing the ingredients for the hot chocolates.

While he heated up the milk, and added the chocolate and some cream, Henry watched him patiently.

'Yummy' the boy exclaimed, when Will brought him a mug full of the brewed beverage, 'Thanks, Dad'.

Will grabbed his own mug, and clipped his mug to Henry's in a 'cheers'.

'Wait' Will placed his drink down and walked over to the pantry. He pulled out a green and white striped packet and brought it to the table.

Inside the bag were two peppermint candy canes.

'Candy canes' Henry cheered, 'Thankyou'.

'We can have one each, just don't tell your Mom' Will explained, placing a finger against his lips in a 'hush'. He placed the empty bag into the rubbish bin, and unwrapped some freshening plastic from the candy, which was also placed into the bin.

Will crunched a piece of the candy cane in his mouth and sipped his drink, 'Yum'. He told Henry.

But, Henry didn't look so convinced. He was about to put his candy cane into his mouth when he had hesitated.

'Little bud? Are you okay?'

Henry nodded. He snapped his candy cane in half, and placed half of it on the bench. The other half he dunked into his hot chocolate and eat enjoyably.

'Bud?' Will gestured towards the untouched half of candy, 'You don't want to eat all of it?'.

Henry shook his head firmly. 'That half is for Mommy. I'm sharing with her when she gets home'.

And after hearing those words, all Will could do was smile at his son.

**Thanks for reading! And feel free to leave reviews, they're greatly appreciated. The next chapter will be coming as soon as possible. **


	12. 12 Feelings

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, CBS, or any of the recognisable characters. **

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, but, I'm back in business now. I hope you like it. **

**Special Thanks to: ''1045Jana'', ''AKupras'', ''Becaboo'', ''EllieIsNotNormal'', ''Hippiechic81'', ''IwKa'', ''Jareau37'', ''LichMaster701'', ''LouisBGreen'', ''M0996'', ''TheHurricane808'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''chrnarnia3'', ''criminalxxxmindsxxxreid'', ''jjcrimminds'', ''kimdogs'', ''lexjl'', ''scumpyca'', ''123098'', ''Alane012'', ''CMCrazies'', ''CMLeoLover'', ''Chris Obsession'', ''ChrissyGleek'', ''Cranaxas'', ''Criminal Minds BAUty'', ''DVdE91'', ''Jareau-26'', ''Jean-Moddalle'', ''Luuw5683'', ''MarnieWest'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''cmfanbex'', ''ddzzoonn'', ''i-Linda'', ''giderasia'', ''maclem'', and ''lucy62'' for all of the follows and favourites. They mean a lot to me. **

**And Special Thanks to: ''JuliaBC'', ''Hippiechic81'', ''XoxMountainGirlxoX'', ''Jareau37'', ''CMCrazies'', ''scumpyca'', ''lexjl'', ''RatherBeAWriter'', ''LichMaster701'', ''Laydia'', ''Becaboo'', ''jjcrimminds'', and ''kimdogs'' for all of your reviews. You all are golden, and they mean a lot to me. **

**Chapter Twelve: ''Feelings''** **(JJ POV) **

I was feeling uneasy; I had been all day.

But, after a while, I wasn't the only person feeling uncomfortable.

We all felt like we had let down everybody who was depending on us. Which, and as much as it hurts to say it, had been the case.

A couple of hours after the profile had been delivered; by late afternoon, the fear which rattled the whole of the N.Y.P.D and the members of the B.A.U had come true.

By late afternoon, Morgan and Rossi were standing over the dead bodies of the two latest abducted victims.

John Wagner and Cassandra Davis; the two work colleagues who had been missing for less than twenty four hours, were found in an alley dumpster, bruised and beaten just like the first few victims.

And just like every other crime scene, nothing had changed. There was still no DNA, and no fingerprints from the UnSub.

Everybody was feeling shaken up and helpless about it.

We felt like we had no control over this case.

Not only was that the only problem, the media had started to expose the story.

You could just see, the whole of the city's atmosphere change from tranquility to utter-terror when the news spoke about the 'unstoppable' serial killer; the man who couldn't be stopped by two different law enforcement units.

And since we were the F.B.I (instead of just the general police), the label of how 'terrible our work was' fell upon us instead of the N.Y.P.D.

The six of us were now stuck in a dead ring. We all felt lost. Particularly Hotch, considering he was the most passionate in working hard to save Cassandra and John before they lost their lives.

We had no idea how to move forward in this case, now that the UnSub had evolved and decreased the time he held onto his victims.

None of us felt good about ourselves.

And Penelope, she was also in the same position as us. She was feeling helpless as she sat at her Quantico computers.

She'd usually just be vibrant with enthusiasm, but that didn't happen today.

It was the first thing we recognized when she buzzed into one of the N.Y.P.D computers with the webcam feature. We saw how different she was.

And we all felt similar.

'So, what do we do now?' Morgan's question was focused mainly on Hotch, 'We've just lost two more victims. That's seven in total. For all we know, he already has an idea of who his next victims are going to be'.

'He could even have already abducted them' Kate folded her arms across her chest and sighed.

'So, how much time does that leave us? He doesn't keep anybody for long anymore' Rossi rendered.

Morgan agreed, 'He probably kidnaps them, and as soon as he kills them, he dumps them and then we're all back to square one'. He turned to Reid, 'Kid, how long would it take to bludgeon and beat somebody to death?'.

'It would depend if they struggled and resisted or not' Spence answered, 'But there have been records in the past which show that it could take minimum of five minutes. It'd also depend on if there was a weapon of choice or not. For example, if the UnSub used a baseball bat instead of his bare hands, the time it would take to kill somebody would shorten'.

'Even with the profile, we're getting nowhere' I sighed. My arms folded just like Kate's.

'I feel for you, my doves' Penelope told us all through the webcam; attempting to make us feel better.

'Thanks for all your help, Garcia' Hotch told her, 'We'll let you know when we have something for you'.

She nodded, 'Okay'.

'Stay sweet, baby momma' Morgan waved her goodbye and then she signed off the camera and she was gone.

With it being just us, again. We were all quiet.

Until there was a knock on the door frame.

Marty and a female officer came in carrying a tray of plastic packaged biscuits, and six beverages in take-away coffee cups.

'The least we could do' Marty told us, '…since you guys are taking up all the blow of the media'.

We all grabbed one packet of biscuits each and we each accepted one of the coffees.

The female officer walked back to her business, and Marty stayed with us where he expressed his sympathy and regard.

'Our of our officers wants to know if the case will go cold' Marty explained, 'What do you think?'.

Hotch shook his head firmly, 'We won't let that happen. We're not leaving until this case is solved'.

'Seven victims, brutally murdered, and a skilled serial killer. That takes up our priority. We're not going anywhere' Rossi added.

'That's good' Marty sighed with relief, 'You should see the officers out there'.

He pointed out the doorway, 'It's all becoming unstuck because of this case. We don't know what to do'.

'We'll get there' Hotch assured.

Morgan piped in, 'We just need something that gives us a lead, then we should be gold'.

Marty smiled, and he held up his hand in a way which told us, 'Stay, I'll be right back'. We tapped our toes and waited for him, for no less than fifteen seconds, and then he returned.

He carried a cardboard box in his hands, which he placed on our table.

We all crowded around, while he opened the box and distributed the contents.

Inside, were ten separate casings containing a variety of different dominos. All new store-purchased, with different brands and colours.

'Just a gag' Marty smirked, 'We thought that maybe these would help you guys understand a bit more about why the UnSub uses dominos to signature his crimes'.

'Thanks, Marty' Spence told him, and he started opening the casings.

'Hope you have some luck. We need something' Marty bowed his head kindly, and after saying goodbye to us, he too walked back to return to his duty.

We all started helping to open the casings and we examined the dominos.

(Typically; Reid, Morgan and Rossi started lining them up on the table to knock them over in game).

Meanwhile, Hotch went to get some evidence, and he returned to the table with the dominos that the UnSub had used at the crime sites.

'Look' I pointed, picking up one of Marty's casings, 'These ones look just like the UnSub's dominos'.

Spence jumped up, grabbed one of the UnSub dominos from Hotch, then walked over to me to compare the differences.

He paused.

'Flip that over, look at that' he gasped, and I did as he told me to.

'What's up?' Kate inquired while Morgan just stared at us with a curious glance.

'See that?' Spence asked me.

'I don't see anything' I defended, until the genius pointed to the back of the UnSub domino. In the left corner of the little brick, was a small defined scratch. It was merely just a millimetre in length.

But the scratch was something that the original domino didn't have.

'Kid, what is it?' Morgan questioned.

'The UnSub has engraved his dominos' I realised Reid's point.

Rossi grabbed a magnifying glass off the table and passed it to Reid who accepted it.

We let Spence do his thing, and he held up the magnify glass over the scratch; he bit his tongue while he did so.

'It says…' he paused, 'It says 'Alley', and then he spelt it out for us, 'A.L.L.E.Y'.

'Like a street alley' Kate nodded.

'But, what does that mean?' I looked at everybody in turn, and then I finally met eyes with Spence.

Maybe he knew something 'genius-y' that the rest of us didn't know.

Reid and Hotch quickly examined all of the UnSub dominos, and it was clear, that the UnSub had signed all of his dominos with the extremely small inscription of the word 'Alley'.

'It's not the brand or anything?' Rossi suggested.

And we all examined Marty's dominos which were in the casings.

It was clear, that if the brand name was printed on the dominos, it would be placed on with printed colour rather than an engraving.

And none of the other dominos had the scratch which said 'Alley' anyway.

It was a difference.

'So' Kate veered us back on subject, 'What meaning would an 'Alley' have to the UnSub?'.

'Most of his dump sites were in alley ways' Morgan pointed out.

'But, he also left a domino where Lola Stephens was killed' Hotch added.

Reid nodded as well, 'And there was also a domino at the restaurant where Cassandra Davis' phone was found'.

'Okay' Rossi changed the subject, 'We profiled that the UnSub had suffered a loss. Maybe this 'Alley' will lead us closer to finding out what his trigger was'.

'New York is a huge place' Morgan folded his arms.

'With a population of approximately 8,405,837 people' Reid stated in his usual statistical manner.

'Alley' could be a store, an address, a title' Hotch nodded.

'It could be anything' Kate added.

'And all it has to do is have meaning to the UnSub' Rossi sighed.

'I'll get Garcia on it' Morgan pulled his mobile out of his pocket and started dialling.

But in the midst of the all the commotion, and as Morgan and Hotch explained to Penelope what they had found and what they wanted her to look for; I admitted something to myself.

I realised that I wasn't feeling as better as the rest.

The team seemed to feel better. They were enthused.

They felt like we could get somewhere.

As far as Morgan was concerned, we had found the lead that could turn us 'gold'.

Whereas, I still felt uneasy. Like physically, I felt sick.

And I realised that I hadn't even touched my coffee and biscuits.

Which was totally unlike me; I loved to treat myself with unhealthy foods from time to time.

For some unknown reason, the words _'work is terrible' _ were spinning around my head.

And I didn't know whether that was the media talking, Will and Henry talking, or whether that was just my sub-conscious opinion.

All I knew was, that I had never felt like this before.

And before I knew it, I had fainted.

**Thanks for reading! And feel free to leave your reviews and comments. The next chapter will be coming as soon as possible, and this time when I say 'As Soon As Possible' I will not mean a week. It shall be quicker than that. Thanks, again. **


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